Hi @Alex
Here is a MFO thread from last August.
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/29251/what-grade-does-your-state-s-529-plan-get/p1
This March 2016 MFO link is from inside a related thread, and provides other links you find of use and/or get you pointed in the right direction of what to search for.
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/75930/#Comment_75930
Regards,
Catch

Depending on what U.S. state you are in, you can find information if you search for your states 529 plan. Will also tell you your specific states tax advantages.

Can anyone provide me with a link or site where I can get unbiased information about 529 Plans for education. Something like Morningstar . It seems that the only info is provided by the various fund companies which tend to feature their plans.
Thank you

If this is a 1995 style market which "experts" are predicting, then growth should outperform value. So IMO tech outperforms financials.
I do think below from Bill Maher is a genuine problem for "tech". Something I have been saying for years as I refuse to create a Facebook/Twitter account. Then again, I'm known to be anti-social...and proud of it.

FYI: (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
Banks and other financial stocks took off to the upside after the November election, but their performance so far this year has been disappointing. The KBW Bank Index is up less than 1% year to date, compared to a 7% gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index—while bank exchange-traded funds are actually down a fraction of a percent.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/#q=+Banks+Still+Look+Like+a+Good+Investment+

FYI: The Harvard University endowment’s biggest publicly traded holding is a high-yield bond exchange-traded fund, a move into a cheap, passive investment as the school replaces some of its own traders with external money managers.
Harvard Management Co. disclosed in a filing that it held 9.6 million shares of iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF valued at $841 million in the first quarter. The ETF gained 1.9 percent for the three months. The fund also purchased options with a face value of almost $500 million for two other ETFs and sold out of 30 positions, including real estate developer Howard Hughes Corp.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-15/harvard-endowment-s-biggest-public-holding-is-a-high-yield-etf

FYI: Wall Street indexes were trading higher on Monday and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit records as a global cyber attack boosted technology stocks and a rise in oil prices lifted energy stocks.
Oil hit its highest in more than three weeks after top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia said supply cuts needed to last into 2018, a step toward extending an OPEC-led deal to support prices for longer than originally agreed.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-14/sentiment-takes-hit-from-economic-data-missiles-markets-wrap
Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-idUSKCN18B1D1
MarketWatch:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-poised-for-higher-open-as-saudi-russia-surprise-lifts-oil-prices-2017-05-15/print
IBD:
http://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/stocks-rumble-to-a-bullish-close-ibd-50-names-outperform/
CNBC:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/15/us-markets.html
AP:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MARKETS_ASOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-15/your-evening-briefing-j2qjgzdt
WSJ: Market At A Glance;
http://markets.wsj.com/us
SPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
SPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectors
Current Futures: Positive
http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

I heard James management speak to a group of RIAs in late 2007. The person told us they (James) were fairly confident a massive selloff was in the offing. Interesting that he said they were doing nothing to the portfolio despite their strong conviction of a 50-60% drawdown in the S&P 500. The fund held up reasonably well despite the lack of conviction in their own conviction. It always stuck with me. Their allocation has barely changed over the years, remaining about 50% in stocks and 50% in bonds and cash. Also interesting is the fund's mostly mid-cap value tilt. I compare it to WHGIX, VBINX. We use WHGIX as an actively-managed, low-risk hold in conservative accounts.

FYI: Some mutual funds are harder to judge than others because they have no obvious benchmark to measure them against. But we found a way to evaluate the performance of one such fund, the $80 billion Franklin Income fund (FKINX), by creating a portfolio of exchange-traded funds to act as a benchmark.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-closer-look-at-a-popular-fund-for-yield-1494209100
M* Snapshot FKINX:
http://beta.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/fkinx/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot FKINX
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/fkinx
FKINX Is Ranked #18 In The (A 30%-50% E) Fund DCategory By U.S/ News & World Report:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/allocation-30-to-50-equity/franklin-income-fund/fkinx

When this fund opened in 2015, I said I didn't see how Brown Capital could succeed with an international small cap fund, especially given the same managers' tepid performance in the Brown large cap international (BCIIX) fund. However, BCSVX has really taken off in the past year. Maybe they will be a contender. Those MFOers who've loved BCSIX, myself included, might be tempted.

I agree with Crash (and Bee) that PRIDX seems like a solid, stable fund for long term investing.
I hadn't taken a close look at VINEX in a few years (it had a pretty long poor stretch prior to 2013), but seems to have regained its luster - despite what M* thinks (Neutral rating). As I recall, it was much more value leaning many years ago.
If you're looking for boutique funds, QUSIX (Pear Tree Polaris Foreign Small Cap) has a fine long term record with managers that have been there for nearly a decade. Really low turnover, a healthy dollop of EM (18%), neither concentrated nor spread thin (74 holdings, 13% in top 5). Smaller cap than many of the other funds mentioned. Also value-oriented, which is a bit different than most.
A boutique fund on the growth side that pops out on a screen (don't know much about it) is TCMPX (AMG TimeSquare Int'l Small Cap). Been around four years, low AUM, great returns (and high Sharpe ratio, along with PRIDX and ISMIX).
(M* shows only 161 funds with mid or small cap portfolios that are international; only 158 if one excludes global funds. Rule out the obvious duds and regional funds you may not want, and the pool becomes small enough that one could almost research each one in detail.)

willmatt
GLRBX was profiled in the August 2015 Commentary
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2015/08/james-balanced-golden-rainbow-fund-glrbxglrix-august-2015/

ISMIX was searchable on M* (I'm assuming ISMRX is just another share class)...seems
Two choices I like:
VINEX...Vanguard, Solid
PRIDX (breakdown from @crash)...TRPrice, Solid
Japan 21.8%
United Kingdom 12.8%
China 8.4%
Germany 4.4%
India 4.2%
South Korea 3.9%
Spain 3.7%
Italy 3.5%
France 3.5%
Sweden 3.4%
Other Considerations:
HJPSX (100% SC Japan)...great performance at a price (high ER)
DFUKX (Sorry I didn't mean to swear) United Kingdom SC
MSMLX (Asia SC - 40% developed, 60% emerging)
Performance Chart comparing ISMRX:

Holy cow, @bee. That Hennessey fund is quite a find!

This headline was just too absurd to pass up.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-12/there-are-now-more-indexes-than-stocks

ISMIX was searchable on M* (I'm assuming ISMRX is just another share class)...good choice
Two choices I like:
VINEX...Vanguard, Solid
PRIDX (breakdown from @crash)...TRPrice, Solid
Japan 21.8%
United Kingdom 12.8%
China 8.4%
Germany 4.4%
India 4.2%
South Korea 3.9%
Spain 3.7%
Italy 3.5%
France 3.5%
Sweden 3.4%
Other Considerations:
HJPSX (100% SC Japan)...great performance at a price (high ER)
DFUKX (Sorry I didn't mean to swear) United Kingdom SC
MSMLX (Asia SC - 40% developed, 60% emerging)
Performance Chart comparing ISMRX:

I found that my premise was off. VIGRX (VIVAX) tracks the CRSP US Large Cap Growth (Value) Index, not the S&P 500 Growth (Value) Index. Vanguard does have ETFs and institutional mutual funds that track the S&P 500 Growth and Value indexes, however.

@rforno: Upon further review, you might be thinking of his appearance on 9/12/14.
Regards,
Ted

I'm not doing timing, and regardless, the arguable appeal of the RG_ set is that they are the opposite of megacap, being equal weighting of the SP500.
RPG wins over the last decade, while MGV lags even SP500. Interesting.
Over 5y it's RPV, with all the others bunched.
So maybe a timing strategy would be the way to go. If only we knew how to do that.
Over its last 4.5y, CAPE beats all.
For all these spans, the performance of the two MG_ is inferior.

Emerging market has done even better this year; YTD return is over 2X that of the S&P 500.

I couldn't access the article at this time, so I don't know what was discussed or compared.
A general overview comparing SPY and IEV for the past 3 years.
SPY = +33.8%
IEV = -1.9%
Note: SPY is about +7.4% YTD and IEV is about +15.5% YTD.
So, yes; there was more value at a given point.
ALSO keep in mind that after the market melt; the U.S. moved into quantitative money easing while the ECB maintained an austerity mode is may still be about 3 years behind the money curve. In addition, the structure of the ECB and Eurozone is not as is the Federal Reserve system here.
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?SPY,IEV&n=758&O=011000
Regards,
Catch